Shion of the Rebellion
by Unable-to-Sit-Still
Summary: It had all gone wrong. Finding Safu, destroying the wall, saving everyone from the bees. None of it went the way we they had imagined. Now they're headed to their deaths, but will a strange new power save them? No. 6/Code Geass crossover. Contains Nezushi
1. Chapter 1: One Short Day in the 6th City

A/N: My first story! It was inspired by tis picture (http :/www. / 845614) and a comment that said suggested that Nezumi and Shion should end up ruling No. 6 "all sexily" like in Code Geass. It is definitely more focused on the former, but next chapter on will have lots of elements from Code Geass, so I'll move it to the crossover section next chapter. On that note, enjoy, R&R!

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><p>It had all gone wrong.<p>

Finding Safu, destroying the wall, saving everyone from the bees. None of it went the way we they had imagined. The plan they had set out was nowhere near simple, but thinking about how it was put to a halt so quickly made them both a little sick and more than a little ashamed.

The moment the truck stopped way too early was what gave away their immanent failure. Even though it was a commonly used route, the smooth ride there didn't feel like the uninhabitable terrain of the West District. After calming down the passengers with them inside the truck, Nezumi shot a nervous glance over at Shion. He could tell that Shion noticed too. Shion looked perplexed, but he chose not to voice it in fear of alarming the others.

When the quiet ride came to a stop, an armed guard motioned for them to exit. They were all led through a sterile looking hallway. Nezumi with a very protective arm around Shion stood near the back, looking for opportunities to escape. Things seemed to have changed since he had been here last. In fact it looked more like the drab walls of the-

Nezumi gasped and stopped dead in his tracks. The guards behind him also stopped and pointed their guns at him. He stared in horror as the rest of the group went on to their deaths, though not in the way Nezumi had anticipated. Because this wasn't the correctional facility.

It was the government building.

The guards that were surrounding them closed in and put them in cuffs. Nezumi let them. He knew his way around a pair of handcuffs by now. There was no way out by now, but one thing struck them as odd. They were all armed, but none of them made a move to shoot them yet. By now the rest of the group would have been executed by the guards in the other room, but Nezumi and Shion were still alive and fearing what could come next.

One of the guards spoke up, "You two. You are VC103221 and the one who escaped being held for the murder. Am I correct?"

They hesitated for a moment and then nodded.

"You are both hereby under arrest for conspiracy against the city, treason, and murder. After questioning, you both will be sentenced to death or life in the correctional facility." The guard barked and gave a motion to one of the guards to start moving. They went through a door that led to a secret passageway much like the one Nezumi had used four years ago. He tried to get a better look, but every time his eyes strayed they were met with a high powered rifle staring right back. He didn't really want to get shot here again or have Shion hurt in his place.

As they walked through the dingy corridor that was obviously not used by the government officials that worked in the building, they began to notice cell doors, rusted and dull from time. One in particular looked much more tidy and had a guard dozing in a chair next to it. He was awakened by the mass of guards and their jangling shackles. He gave a nervous salute to the guard leading them who only scoffed at him, "Just do your job, idiot. We can't let her escape us again!"

"Y-yes, sir!" he managed to stutter out.

Shion stopped for a second and gazed at the door. Who could possibly be in-

_'There. I found you...my.'_

"Huh? What was that?" Shion looked around to see if anyone was speaking to him. Nezumi simply looked at him weirdly and the guards all but snarled at him, "Don't speak, prisoner!"

"P-prisoner! We're going have to stay in here?" The thought of being alone in a cell for the rest of his life terrified him.

"I told you to BE QUIET!" The guard brought his gun down on top of Shion's head. Hard. He fell to the ground and Nezumi jerked forward, crying out his name. He was also given a rough hit to the head and a punch to the gut for good measure. Nezumi cried out and gasped for breath only to get a vicious kick to the temple that made his vision swim and hurled him from his knees to the ground.

The only things that processed in his fuzzy mind was Shion yelling his name and the guards pulling the both of them through the rest of the corroded corridor.

Nezumi finally glanced at the slightly ornate, red door at the end of the hallway. It took him a moment to realize that the door wasn't red but only appeared that way because of the blood seeping into his eye from his forehead. He knew whatever was behind that door would ultimately lead to their deaths, but with his head throbbing and his body sore from the guards and Shion sobbing lightly beside him, he knew there was nothing he could do about it.

As the light streamed in from the open door, he took Shion's cuffed hand in his.


	2. Chapter 2: Life or Death

A/N: This update is a bit late, but I actually hadn't finished season two of Code Geass when I had started this. The review really helped motivate me though! So review and chapters get here faster!

Shion's teary eyes took in the office before them. If it weren't for Nezumi's hand and the terrible throbbing coming from the back of his head, he would've thought he was in heaven.

The ceiling was beautiful. It was made of glass and showed the honeycomb design of the Moon Drop off beautifully. The sunlight streamed in and illuminated the ornate office below to the point where lights weren't even necessary in the daytime. It was all topped off by the symbol of No. 6 in the middle where the honeycomb pattern ended and the many antennae stuck out from the top.

The office contrasted so much with the places he had recently become accustomed to calling home. No. 6 had electronic desks and automated heating. His home with Nezumi had numerous bookshelves that gave the hide-away an intelligent smell and a huge draft that usually left Shion shivering and asking to sleep with Nezumi (for heat of course). This place's false warmth only made it seem colder. Which matched the expression of the intimidating man sitting behind the desk that barely took up any room in the large office.

Both Shion and Nezumi recognized the man immediately. Nezumi maintained his usual emotionless demeanor with a hint of anger that caught only Shion's eye, but Shion wasn't as composed. His eyes grew wide with shock and he squeezed at Nezumi's hand. His mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water as he grappled for words. There before them was the leader of the demon city itself No. 6: Mayor Hazagi S. Price

Shion was still beyond words and Nezumi refused to say a word, so it was Hazagi that spoke first, "How did I know that you two would find your way right back here? I guess you both just know where to find trouble," He stood from his desk and waved most of the guards off, the head guard still standing tensed at Nezumi's side. "You should feel grateful, actually, I saved the both of you from dying in such a terrible manner. With such slovenly people. But I suppose I shouldn't expect that a drowned rat like you would be in the best company. You though, Shion, as a fellow citizen of No. 6 should've behaved better."

"Citizen? I thought I was under arrest for murder?" Shion managed with a voice not shaking with fear, but with barely suppressed rage. Shion only grew more and more angry as he continued talking, "All water under the bridge for now. To be honest, you actually looked like you've seen a ghost. I almost didn't believe them when they said that it was you when you walked in with your crazy white hair," Shion's rage flared again. It was because of him that he looked that way. That so many people will die. All because of his experiments and fascination with Elyurias. By now, Nezumi had to squeeze his hand back a bit to let Shion know not to crush his hand.

Nezumi was honestly scared of what Shion might do if he kept talking. Nezumi himself was angry but it was quickly dissolved by his worry for Shion. The last time he got angry he almost ended up choking Rikiga to death; who know what he would pull this time. Nezumi cut in to end the mayor's rambling about Shion's hair "Are we here to talk about the latest hairstyles or do you plan on actually making a point?"

Hazagi's mocking stare turned frigid quickly at Nezumi's question, "Such insolence. I can't say I'm surprised though, being raised by monkey people would do that to a person I guess."

There was a flurry if motion as the mayor's desk was flipped and he was head-butted into the wall behind him. It was Nezumi, though, who watched the guards converge on Shion who had launched into Hazagi. Many other guards heard the commotion and rushed into the room, including the dozing guard from earlier. Two secured Nezumi on the floor while at least five of them worked at restraining a yelling (still handcuffed) Shion.

"HOW DARE YOU SAY SUCH TERRIBLE THINGS ABOUT NEZUMI! TAKE IT BACK! TAKE IT BACK NOW!"

Nezumi would have laughed at the mayor's shocked face if it wasn't for the guard kneeling on his kidney. Hazagi instead smirked evilly and motioned the guards to let them both up.

"As much as I hate to say it, the Lorax here has a point. I got terribly off topic. Now, about your sentencing? Ah, yes, you two were planning on taking down my dear correctional facility and take our sample from us. Safu, was it? We couldn't quite have her escaping though. We had gotten too far to give up on her. Elyurias." He turned away to face the wall and spread his arms toward No. 6, "She has the power to destroy the city or skyrocket it into history! So what if a couple tree huggers get lost in the process; it's all for the good of the city of No. 6: a true Eden in this barren world."

This time it was Nezumi who got angry. He struggled against the guards in vain and swore loudly. The head guard slammed his head on the desk in front of him and Nezumi nearly ended up blacking out from the pain re-awakened in his head.

"That's getting really damn annoying Rat. Now, I'm going to give you the same deal I gave you last time I had the displeasure of meeting you four years ago: tell us how to awaken Elyurias and you go free if not, you die." His eyes shifted to Shion for a moment to take in Shion's horrified expression and added, "and Shion dies, too."

The last part barely even registered to Shion. Nezumi already said to the man in the cave that he knew close to nothing about Elyurias, much less how to awaken her. He had no chance and you could tell from the putrid smile on Price's face that he knew that Nezumi had no idea. Tears of frustration welled up in his eyes. It wasn't fair. The very close reality of them both dying here dawned on Shion. He would be able to save Safu, the people of the West District, the people of No. 6, and after all the times he had saved him, he wouldn't be able to save Nezumi. Seeing Shion's mortified look and mistaking it for fear, Nezumi yelled out "Leave Shion out of this! This was my doing, not his!" The tears in Shions eyes flew down his face. 'Why can't I just save him when he needs me most? After all he's done for me, I should at least be able to fight back for him! It can't end here! Not like this!'

'So you don't want it to end here?'

Shion's vision blurred and he felt everything go blank before dissolving into a spacial blue. The voice from before had the same extraterrestrial quality to it and sounded like a girl. Suddenly everything went white and he saw her.

'You appear to have a reason to keep living. In exchange for my one wish, you will gain a power no other human possesses, live like no other human does, and you will be able to fulfill your wish in return. Do you accept?'

Shion was dazed and confused by the flicker of images around him, but he quickly pushed that aside 'Yes! I accept! Just let me save Nezumi!'

With that, he was back in the hellish room, with Nezumi still held down. With a flurry of movement, the mayor brandishes a handgun and held it up to Nezumi's head while the guard beside him held up a gun to Shion's.

"Last chance, Nezumi." Despite this Nezumi remained silent. Shion was nearly hysterical at this point. Did the girl lie? Did it just not work? He just didn't understand!

As the mayor began to pull the trigger, Shion cried out as a last ditch effort, "NO DON'T!"


	3. Chapter 3: The Power of Kings

A/N: I'm aware that many people who are reading this probably havn't read Code Geass and may be confused on what happened because of that. If you don't understand it, feel free to PM me or ask a specific question in your review. It was a bit much for me too grasp at first, too!

I won't keep you in suspense any longer now! Read and review!

And with those two words and a flash of red light, everyone collapsed.

Shion couldn't believe his eyes. The mayor and his guards were right there, lying unconscious on the floor. They all simply fell over.

Nezumi groaned and rubbed the back of his head as he stood and assessed what happened. His eyes wandered to the prone body of Mayor Price and then to Shion's shocked, tear-streaked face. "Shion...what did you do?"

Shion could only shake his head and stare ahead like he had seen a ghost. He then looked down at his hands. What /did/ he do? Are they all...?

He launched himself into Nezumi's arms. He didn't know what was going on, and at this point he just wanted to go home. It reminded him of a book he had dug up from the dusty bookshelves and read to Karan and Rico. But that story had a happy ending and, seeing as he didn't have a pair or ruby slippers or a wizard with a hot air balloon, it was unlikely he would be getting out of Oz in one piece.

The white haired boy was calmed a bit by a warm hand running through his shaggy locks. Although Nezumi was probably going through similar turmoil, he needed to comfort Shion. Whatever had happened clearly shook the boy up, and no matter what he didn't want this experience to change him. He placed a comforting kiss on his forehead and murmured "Everything is going to be alright."

Unfortunately, their embrace was cut short by a cough coming from one of the guards. One of them was still standing.

Nezumi whirled around to face the guard and wrapped his scarf reflexively around Shion. Neither of them were in any condition to fight, but they were certain they could both take on a solitary guard just fine.

The guard just held up its hands and said "Calm down. I want to get out if this place as badly as you do," The guard then removed its helmet to reveal flowing green hair and sharp yellow eyes. Shion instantly recognized her.

"Hey! It's you! The girl from my vision! What are you doing here?" Nezumi glanced between the two in confusion. Then his eyes settled for glaring at her in suspicion and jealousy. The girl noticed that immediately and quickly added with a smirk "I'll explain later, but first of all we need to get out of this hellhole. This guard suit is itchy and bulky anyway."

Both not wanting to argue with the enigmatic girl, calmly they all walked to the door to the secret passageway and started their trek once again. While it was nice to get out of the falsely bright office, the dank passage wasn't much better. Shion was nuzzling into Nezumi's scarf in an attempt to comfort himself. He was sure to see this horrid place in his dreams. It wasn't long before they reached the cell block, only to see the guard knocked out on the floor wearing only his underwear and the door to the cell wide open. Both Nezumi and Shion's eyes fell on the girl leading the way. No wonder the guard uniform looked big on her.

The hallway seemed to go on forever. It also seemed like she knew it by heart because she traced the path they had used to get there. Nezumi figured now was as good as any time to start questioning her, and he had more than a couple questions for her, so he grabbed her shoulder roughly and made her stop walking, "Who the hell are you and why are you helping us escape?"

She kept the same expression in place while she brandished the pistol in the pocket of her guard uniform, "You're in no position to be demanding anything, Rat. Also, in case you didn't notice genius, I'm escaping, too."

"Then why are you threatening us?"

"I'm not threatening Shion. I'm threatening you. Killing Shion would void our contract."

Shion perked at this, "Our what?"

"Our contract. You were in need and I gave you the power to save ratboy here. It's very simple actually." Nezumi glared anew at her condescending tone.

Shion quickly sensed the tension between the two and spoke up quickly, "So what exactly did you do? I mean everyone just collapsed all of a sudden."

"I didn't do anything. Like I said, I gave you the power you needed to save your boyfriend," Shion flushed at that, "and luckily you activated it in time to save him. That was a really close call, too. If you had used your geass a second later, he would've been toast."

"G-geass?"

"Right. When you yelled at them to stop, you activated your geass and immobilized them. Every geass is different and determined by the person's personality and wish. Yours knocks people unconscious because you just wanted to be able to protect people from danger. The power of geass can bend the will of others, make them abandon any form of morality, or alter how the world is perceived by them. Of course, this power has limits and more advanced forms, but you should be able to protect yourself from a bunch of napping people for now."

Nezumi and Shion didn't know how to react. In the end Shion just settled for an incredulous "Who are you?"

They had reached a dead end in the hallway, but the girl pushed on a wall and they were outside the government building in the light. "You don't need to know my real name. Just call me C.C."


	4. Chapter 4: Lost in Lost Town

"C.C.?"

"Yes?"

"How exactly do you plan on getting out of here?"

"...I had assumed you lived in this city."

The two if them groaned at her. So she had escaped without a plan to get out of the city? Just great. Shion would've laughed if it wasn't so absolutely devastating. They had been sneaking around No. 6 for hours now, and here they were, lost in the very city they sought to destroy. With the streets buzzing with kids making their way home for dinner and couple preparing for a night out, they had to hide in the lengthening shadows of alleys in fear of getting caught. Shion knew most of the city, but sneaking around the lesser known streets of Lost Town and climbing into the occasional sewer system made him feel a bit turned around. Also, Nezumi only knew the sewer system of Chronos well, and they knew they would be apprehended in seconds if they so much as sneezed there. So they were kind of stuck.

But with the sunlight dwindling, the odds were growing in their favor. With the cover of night, they could move around with less chance of being caught. Plus, at night Nezumi's sense of direction went from great to uncanny. Nezumi had made a joke before about rats being nocturnal, but he didn't make that joke now. Not with C.C. here.

It seemed that in the short time they'd settled in a dark alley to hide, Nezumi and C.C. had both decided to hate each other's guts. C.C. however, was already in Shion's good book for helping him save Nezumi; then again, anyone can get in his good book by showing any form of decency to a human being. Or by breathing. Nezumi though probably would think that their breathing would directly affect his chances of breathing and see them as a threat, so C.C.'s presence brought a glare to his eyes.

And this made everything very awkward. Shion desperately wanted to break the silence, but he knew that it would either only get more awkward or they would start fighting right away. He decided to instead help tend to Nezumi's still bleeding head. He scooched over to kneel in front of Nezumi and leaned in to get a better look.

Nezumi stiffened and said, "What are you doing?" Shion simply smiled and carefully brushed Nezumi's bangs back. "I'm fixing your forehead, now hold still."

Nezumi sighed in exasperation and batted Shion's hands away. "You get crazy demon powers and you're worried about my head bleeding. I'll be fine."

"But facial cuts bleed much more quickly than normal cuts do and have a much higher probability to bleed out before they clot. Stitches are needed to minimalize the size and severity of scars an-"

"Enough! Leave it alone. I swear we're in No. 6 for five minutes and you turn back into your old self."

Shion sat back on his heels with a dejected look on his face. "But...the only reason I got this power was to be able to protect you. I don't want you leaving me for something so easily fixed..."

Nezumi said nothing, but he held back his bangs so Shion could get to the cut. Shion quickly started working on his head, and C.C. just looked at the pair with humor.

It was almost uncanny. With Nezumi's cold and calculating demeanor and Shion's unfallable sense of morals and kindness, they kind of reminded her of Lelouch and Su-

She flinched at the implications of that thought. She sure hoped this one didn't end the same way the last one did. Lelouch: played as a pawn for the past, but instead became a king with his geass powers, died at the hands of his own knight for the future. The knight, Suzaku, still following the dead king's order made under the unbreakable spell of geass, fled his position to save his own life. The chaos which followed led the world into a war that ultimately spawned the shining devil city they were in right now.

Utter failure. That was the result of her contract with Lelouch. Utter failure. The world was still as terrible as it was before. Lelouch's death was for nothing, and Suzaku was probably wallowing somewhere in unending guilt in what the world has become, unable to die.

She physically shook away that train of thought. No, Nezumi and Shion are nothing like Lelouch and Suzaku. The last thing she needed was to get her heart caught up in her contracts again.

Especially in fruitless ones like this one.

A/N: ~EXPOSITON TIME!~

In case you haven't read Code Geass then, 1: go watch it. It's amazing, and 2: Spoilers ahoy!

Here's a VERY BRIEF time line of what happened with Lulu and Suzaku:

==Lelouch is granted his geass with the ambition to kill his father, the emperor of Britannia (evil Brit country that controls the world). His geass gives him the power to make people do as he says with a single gaze.

==Lelouch becomes the leader of a terrorist group under the name of "Zero" and Suzaku joins the Brit army.

==Zero becomes famous and eventually meets Suzaku (wearing a mask) but Suzaku traps Zero in a way where Suzaku would sacrifice himself to kill Zero, but he fixes it by ordering Suzaku to live with his geass.

==Sh** hits the fan when Zero kills princess Euphemia, his sister and Suzaku's crush(?)

==Lelouch's terrorist group invades Japan in hopes of liberating it from Britannia, but Lulu leaves to go rescue his dear sister Nunnally.

==He runs into Suzaku who finds out his identity and turns him in to the emperor

==Emperor wipes his memory with his own geass and season 2 starts

==C.C. shows up, gives him his memory and geass back and he comes back as Zero. Suzaku is now one of the highest ranking soldiers cause he turned in Zero.

==His terrorist organization joins up with one of the Brits' biggest enemies, China

==Lelouch tries to kill his father, but it didn't work and he learns about his father's plan (that I won't get too far into because it is REALLY complicated. His plan is to "kill god." Yeah...that is just a VERY showy and complicated way of saying that he wants to get rid of all lies). In the process of trying to kill him, the emperor becomes immortal and CC loses her memory :(

==He and China try to liberate Japan (again), but is stopped by a hugeass nuke that goes off

==Nunnally gets caught in the blast and both Lulu and Suzaku flip their shit.

==The terrorist organization turns on Lelouch when they learn about him being a Brit prince and his geass. He is saved by Rolo, who dies in the process

==CC is visited by Lulu's not-so-dead mom who gives her her memory back

==CC, Lelouch, and Suzaku go to where the emperor is. CC, Lelouch's mom and his dad pretty much say that they were in cahoots the whole time and they set into motion the whole kill god plan

==Lelouch and Suzaku stop their plan because "killing god would create a world of the past, a world with no future" and Lelouch kills his father.

==Lelouch uses his geass on the whole world via broadcast and becomes emperor of Britannia with Suzaku by his side

==They pretty much f*** up the world and everyone hates Lelouch, including his younger sister Nunnally (who turns out to be alive) and his older brother (whose name is long and hard to spell)

==His siblings try to destroy the world, but Lelouch stops them and captures them as prisoners

==Lelouch sets into motion the "Zero Requiem," a plan he and Suzaku set up beforehand. With all the hatred in the world upon Lelouch. Suzaku, dressed as Zero, would assassinate Lelouch publicly, putting an end to Lelouch's "tyranny." Of course, it's more like a suicide because he set this all up for the sake of his sister Nunnally, who saw in a final vision that her brother really wasn't a "demon emperor," but rather an overly devoted brother wanting a better world for her, making his death infinitely more tragic.

==I cry my eyes out. The end.

Trust me that was as brief as I could possibly make it. There are DOZENS of episodes I skipped over completely, but you guys don't really need much more than that for what I will be talking about in this fic. It is set primarily in No. 6, but the back story will be tied in with Code Geass and may contain some more of it's characters ;) I'm currently undecided, but there is still the possibility.

Also, since this chapter unintentionally became an exposition chapter(drat), I'll be posting the next in a sec. Hope it had enough goofiness and fluff to make up for it~!


	5. Chapter 5: RagTag Wanderers

With the sun hiding safely behind the wall of No. 6, the ragtag team deemed it safe to travel and set out for the nearest wall. To any people who may have seen them, they would've stood out like a sore thumb: a girl wearing a white straight jacket thing, bits of armor left over from the guard outfit, and neon green hair; and a man glaring fiercely at everything while bleeding from his head and holding hands with a shaken looking boy with white hair and red scars everywhere. They were a sight to behold, but they made up for that by not being in sight for long.

Even though the media probably didn't release their pictures, they were most likely making up some lie about them to release to the public, so they couldn't quite ask around for directions. Any plans they may have had of escaping were out the window and it became a game of dashing to the wall ASAP.

Shion recognized soon that they were right on the northern border of Lost Town and Chronos. It wasn't the ideal position, far from it, but it would lead them out. To the Northern District to be exact. The Northern District actually wasn't a district at all. The people of No. 6, West District, and even the Forest Folk knew it as a no-man's land. It was far from un-inhabitable, but no one has ever made it out of it's vast wilderness alive.

Naturally then, when they made it to the exit to North District, it wasn't guarded too heavily. It was still pretty intimidating, but not as much as you would imagine. Intimidating enough to have the gang hang back to formulate a plan.

"Okay," Nezumi started, "it looks like only two of the guards over there are armed. I think that if I can take down those two, we'll be able to take the others down pretty easily and-"

"Why don't you just have Shion use his geass?"

"..." Nezumi silently glared at C.C. with renewed vigor. Not only was she suggesting a plan that put Shion in danger (which was a biiig no in his books), but she was belittling him too. He was beginning to sense that he wasn't going to like this new power of Shion's.

"Whaaa? How would I do that!"

C.C. sighed, "Just do what you did before. Order them to do something. Last time you said 'Stop it.' so how about you try saying something like 'die'? It'll definitely test to see how far your geass can go."

"But why would I want them to just die on the spot? That would just be cruel."

C.C. wasn't sure whether to laugh or groan. With Lelouch, the drama queen he was, the very first thing he did with his geass was get rid of a whole squad of Brittanian soldiers in order to get away. With Shion, she was lucky to get him to ever even use his geass again. She settled on groaning. "Fine. Do as you please."

Shion nodded as if that needed an answer, "Okay, so...how about...?" Shion was stumped, so he turned to Nezumi for help. Nezumi looked just about as frustrated as C.C. did. "What do you think, Nezumi. Should I just say 'Go to sleep'...? Nezumi!" Shion nearly yelled his name, but managed to keep it in check, remembering the armed guards nearby. Nezumi had collapsed.

C.C. was ready to take back what she said about him never using his geass. "Oh right, you should be a bit more careful with that thing. If you direct an order like that at someone, whether you like it or not, it's nap time fir them. Also, congratulations. You got us into a wonderful mess."

Shion flushed in anger, "Well, if I knew about that I would've been more careful! Now look what you made me do."

"For now, can you focus on doing that to those guards over there? I think it would be beneficial for all of us if we got going."

Shion was starting to understand why Nezumi didn't like her. He put that aside for now and focus all his attention on the guards at the gate. "Go to sleep!" C.C. watched in nostalgic wonder as the geass symbol appeared in Shion's left eye and sent out a wave to the guards, who instantly fell unconscious. Shion grinned, "Sweet! It worked!"

"Of course it did. Now get snoozer over there and lets get going before somebody finds out about this." Shion nodded, lifted up Nezumi, and started toward the gate. The gate itself asked for a specific pass code that he quickly assumed the guards had. He began to scramble for one of the sleeping guards, but C.C. stopped him, recited a six digit code, and the gate slid open. Shion gaped at the new world in front of him.

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><p>AN: Finally out of No. 6! Yeeee! I get to describe a new environment from Shion's POV next chapter! He's fun to write as because you can sound smart and awestruck at the same time. Then again, this fic is in 3rd person omniscient POV, but I like to bend the rules and delve into their minds a bit to spice things up. Without their thoughts it would just be "Nezumi did this. Shion said that." I'm babbling. Like always, read and review! I love to hear your feedback!


	6. Chapter 6: Cat's tail

The first thing Shion noticed was how many trees there were. Shion hadn't seen this many trees in his life. The parks in No. 6 had only a copse of trees here and there, but out here there were so many trees that it almost made him feel claustrophobic. The second thing he noticed was how quiet it all was. The cool night air still had the bite of winter in it, so many of the creatures that came out at night were still hibernating. This only gave the forest an eerie calm that was only broken by the occasional gust of wind.

C.C. shivered and pointed into the murky forest, "Our best bet is to head into the forest and make our way west. That way we have some cover in case the clown police come after us."

Shion buried his free hand in his pocket and stuck the other one into Nezumi's scarf for warmth, "Sounds good to me."

Navigating the thick forest was something completely new to Shion. He wished Nezumi was awake so he could show him the best way to get around a ditch or how not to trip over every exposed root. Also, carrying him around was staring to wear on him. C.C. mentioned that she could get around in forests just fine, but it was her heels that were tripping her up. She was baffled as to why a prisoner would be given heels to wear but made a point not to complain about it no matter how much it hurt.

After being in contact with Inukashi's dogs for so long, he was kind of used to having dogs follow him around. Out here though, the howling in the distance was more unnerving than familiar. Shion may not know too much about the rest of the world, but he definitely knew the dangers of wild dogs and wolves. They would need to get to West District soon or find shelter if he didn't want to come face to face with a whole pack of them.

Weirdly enough, they stumbled upon what may have been a path a long time ago. Shion couldn't help but think that he was transported briefly to Wonderland when he stumbled upon a cat lying lazily on a rock where the road forked into two separate paths. This cat however didn't smile at them or try to disappear, instead it merely stood and waltzed down one of the paths.

C.C. stopped in her tracks, and Shion nearly bumped into her back. "What's wrong C.C.?" C.C. mumbled something to herself, then she broke out into a dash. The cat saw this and also started sprinting down the path. Shion hesitated for a moment to try waking Nezumi up. He slowly was roused back into reality. "Wh-wha? Shion what are you...?"

"Ah! Nezumi you're awake! I thought I for a second you might never wake up. There's been a slight change in plan. C.C. freaked out and is chasing a cat. We need to follow her. It would /really help if you ran on your own; I'm kinda wiped!"

Nezumi, although he was throughly confused by the situation, quickly saw how urgent this was, bit back his sarcastic response, and ran after C.C. The ground below them quickly grew steeper and the remains of ancient looking stone stairs were only a little bit of help. They could see through the trees a huge, seemingly man-made valley in the distance. Shion vaguely recalled that it was caused by one of the warheads made by the people who used to own this land. Luckily, unlike the ones used in the all consuming war that created No. 6, it didn't render the whole land useless. The crater was now a prospering valley. Shion smiled. It gave him hope for No. 6 to see such a terrible place turned around into a sunny valley. Hope that he himself could change the world.

Once again, Shion almost ran into the back of C.C. when she stopped dead in her tracks. Shion and Nezumi gaped alongside her when they came to a halt, too. Before thematic the peak of the hill was a perfectly preserved Japanese shrine. The paint on the gate was bright red and the stones that led up to the traditional Japanese house were impeccable.

Although Shion didn't major in history or world cultures, he didn't know much about shrines like this. He knew that most of them dated back hundreds or even thousands of years! The fact that this one had stayed in such wonderful shape even after the war was nothing short of a miracle because many modern buildings that were made to withstand massive earthquakes were simply blown to bits. Beyond the front yard was a huge house. It didn't seem to be in top shape like the rest of the mountaintop, but that could just have been because of it's large size. The cat was lazily lounging on the front deck, waiting for the sun to rise. In any case, the house promised shelter and was a more than welcome sight after walking all night.

C.C. however, still just stared at the house in awe. Shion was the first to notice, "C.C.? Are you alright?"

"Its the Kururugi shrine..."

"The what?"

C.C. didn't get a chance to answer his question because the doors to the house had opened, and out came two young men. Two very familiar young men. The cat wound between their legs and the one with curly brown hair and warm green eyes grinned at the cat who growled slightly and looked in C.C.'s direction. The other one with black hair and intelligent purple eyes simply stared with shock then with happiness at the group that stood at the gate. His dark eyes shone brightly in the light of first dawn. C.C. could only continue to stare in awe.

"I knew it was you, Lelouch..."

"It has been a long time, C.C."

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><p>AN: Yusssss! Guess who? In the end I just love these two too much to keep them out of this. Its gonna get royal up in here. **Read and Review~**


	7. Chapter 7: Knight to C2

A/N: I went a bit overboard with this chapter. I'm sorry, but I love being able to write for Suzaku and Lelouch and Nezumi and Shion at the same time! I'm so glad I included them = W = I really hope I didn't make them OOC...

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><p>Nezumi wasn't sure what had just happened, but based on the few words exchanged so far, it looked to be a heartwarming reunion. The one that wasn't Lelouch gathered the cat into his arms and ran forward, the cat fighting him the whole way. He nearly made it across the yard before the cat bit down on his finger and dashed out of his arms.<p>

"Yeouch! Arthur! I guess you didn't want to say hi to C.C. again." He nursed his injured finger and walked the rest of the way to the gate. "I can't believe you actually found us C.C.! I mean, I knew you were still alive, but I had assumed that you had given up after you heard about Zero being killed."

"I can't believe I found you two either. I had assumed both of you were dead. Not only had you fooled the whole world, but you fooled me too."

His face fell for a second, "Yeah, the good ol' switcheroo can fool even the best of us." He finally seemed to notice Nezumi and Shion standing awkwardly behind C.C. "How rude of me. My name is Sir Suzaku Kururugi, former Knight of Zero." He gave a deep bow and glanced back at the man still standing on the porch. "Lelouch, come say hi. We have guests."

Lelouch started calmly walking toward the group at the gate with a catlike grace that Suzaku's approach lacked. Nezumi was instantly put on edge again. He didn't quite know what exactly seemed off about him, but something about Lelouch just unnerved him. Nezumi didn't even bother covering up his disdain.

Lelouch extended his hand to shake hands with Nezumi and introduced himself, "I'm Lelouch vi Britannia. Pleasure to meet you." Nezumi had to fight the urge to pull back his hand in disgust. So that was why he seemed off to him, "You mean "The Demon Emperor Lelouch vi Britannia"? You can't be serious!"

Shion looked shocked at Nezumi's sudden foul mood. "Nezumi? What was that all about?" He merely scoffed and snapped out a response, "Let's just say that he has quite the legacy. The best day of said legacy was the day he died. I guess that day wasn't as successful as I had read."

Shion stared at the couple in front of him. Suzaku was nearly snarling at this point, but Lelouch was wearing a neutral expression. Suzaku was he one to speak up first. "Don't you dare talk about him that way! That was the worst day of my life! He made a huge sacrifice for the sake of the future! If he hadn't done that we would be living in a world of-"

"Suzaku, stop." Lelouch cut in. He put a calming hand on his shoulder. "Of course he would think that way, the world wasn't supposed to know the truth. In fact, this is the best possible reaction I could've possibly expected. I'm glad at least one part of the plan had gone right." Suzaku calmed down, but his smile had faded from his face and his gaze now focused on the ground.

"I wasn't the only one who didn't understand a word of all that, was I?" Shion piped in. To tell the truth, Nezumi was also throughly confused by every word that came out of the Brit's mouth. It wasn't addressed though because Suzaku had noticed that the three of them looked absolutely dead-tired. "You guys look tired. Why don't you come in and we'll start explaining? I'm sure you have your share of questions too C.C."

Ever-trusting Shion obediently followed behind Suzaku despite just hearing about Lelouch's unsavory title as "Demon Emperor". Nezumi followed Shion quickly getting between him and Lelouch defensively which made Lelouch smirk (well he saw it as a smirk even though it was as true as a smile that Lelouch had; if that doesn't say something about how Lelouch smiles, I don't know what does). C.C. brought up the rear, her usual mask back in place.

The house, even though it looked huge from the outside, it was rather cozy on the inside. Suzaku led them to the dining area while Lelouch went into the other room to start up some tea. Shion savored finally sitting down. The fatigue that of walking for nearly 24 hours straight came crashing down on him. He suddenly needed to plant his hands on the tabletop to remain sitting up and conscious. A line from one of Safu's many neurological rants ran through his head: "When the body is low on sugar, the performance of the brain is severely handicapped and is susceptible to seizures and even stroke, no matter what age you are." That wasn't the best thing to be thinking about at the moment, it kept him from falling asleep on the spot.

Nezumi put his arm around Shion. His eyes revealed his concern for his condition which Shion merely smiled at as if to say "I'm fine" even though he was far from fine. Nezumi started to frown at him, but their silent conversation was cut short when Lelouch walked in and Nezumi's face was cleared of all emotion. Shion however was much more accepting of his arrival on account of the delicious looking plate of Danishes in his hands. He nearly drooled at the sight. Suzaku also intently watched Lelouch enter for a completely different reason: he was wearing an apron. Lelouch smiled for a second. "Its a bit early for breakfast, but I think we could postpone our breakfast till later so you can have ours. It must have taken you all night to get here."

Shion polished off the first Danish in record time and grabbed a second one. "Yeah, it took almost as long as it did to get to the wall from the center of town." He then bit into the Danish and made an effort to eat it slowly. Suzaku tore his eyes from looking adoringly at Lelouch to stare at Shion. "You got from the center of West District to our house in one day? Wow."

"No, from the center of No. 6." Suzaku looked even more surprised at that.

"Seriously? How'd you get past the guards at the gates?"

Shion paused for a moment and set down his Danish. "I used my geass to subdue them..." A collective gasp came from the other aide of the table.

"You have geass, too?" Shion nodded, but then did a double take. ""_Too_"! What do you mean "you have geass, too"?"

Lelouch sighed. He waved his hand in front of his face and the geass symbol appeared in both eyes. "Yes, I too have geass powers. I don't like using it much anymore, not saying that I even have much of an opportunity to use it much anymore. No one comes around anymore, so it is just Suzaku and I most of the time, and forte most part things have been peaceful. Well, here anyway." The black haired man's face fell and he covered his eyes. "I tried using my geass to change the world, but now it is right back where it started: elitists who live easy lives on the sacrifices of others and a suffering people who can only grasp at the other's trash in hopes that they will finally falter and die. It makes me sick, but Lelouch of the rebellion died along with Emperor Lelouch."

Suzaku's face was smothered in guilt, "Lelouch, none of that was your fault. You did succeed in creating peace, no matter how long it lasted it did work. I was the one who messed it up. If I hadn't ran off to find you the minute I learned you were here, the world would probably still be a great place to live in. I left my position as Zero, and the world went into war."

"We've had this conversation a million times before. In the end it was I who made you become Zero and I who made you leave. I won't have you taking the blame for all this and that is final."

"Sorry for interrupting," Shion flinched when everyone's eyes fell on him. "But do you possibly have any more Danishes?"

Suzaku and Lelouch laughed in spite of themselves and Lelouch got up and said, "Sure. I need to check on the tea anyway."

Suzaku laughed one last time, "I just realized I never caught your name."

"My name is Shion. It seems you already know C.C. and this is Nezumi."

Lelouch set down five glasses of tea and a new plate of Danishes. "Nezumi? Is that really your name?" Lelouch blinked in confusion for a second, "What's so odd about his name?" Suzaku whispered something in his ear. "Oh."

"No need to whisper about it like it's the newest piece of gossip. Yes, that's my name. It was given to me by the good folks at the correctional facility. They saw me nothing more than a rat, so they gave me a name that fit what they thought of me." he looked thoughtfully at the plate of Danishes for a moment. "You said that you would answer our questions right? Well, answer me this: how have you guys been able to live so nicely in the middle of nowhere?"

Lelouch and Suzaku exchanged a look for a second until Lelouch spoke up, "I guess I can't quite say that I _decided_ to not use my geass. Quite awhile ago, No. 6 conducted a search of North District. They found us living here. Up until then, we had been living on reserves that Nunnally had sent to me before the war had started. At first I used my geass to fend them off, but soon they sent in the president of public security over here. I knew if he were to disappear, we wouldn't he able to live here anymore and both Suzaku and I had grown to live this place; I mean this is where we first met.

"He offered us a deal. I stop killing off his men, and they let us join No. 6. I knew right then that they had no idea who we were. So said right there that I, Lelouch vi Brittania, had every right to be here because Japan was still a colony of Brittania, and therefore mine. Luckily, he was smart enough to see the resemblance, and made a deal with me that if I never reclaim my position of power or use my geass on another, then they would let me stay here and supply me with food and anything else I wanted. They were afraid I would try to take over the world again, but like I said, Emperor Lelouch died a long time ago. They don't need to know that though."

No matter how interested he was in hearing about Lelouch's geass, Shion's eyelids and the half a dozen Danishes in his stomach were conspiring against him. "I don't mean to be rude, but did they send you supplies for guest rooms?"

Suzaku grinned, "Sure. This used to be my family's estate after all! Right this way."

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><p>AN: Like I said before, feel free to PM me or ask in your review if you have any questions. I don't want any of you to be in the dark, and I usually respond in less than a day. I hope that even if you don't know these two you were still able to appreciate them!


	8. Chapter 8: Silent Night

Shion let out a sigh as he followed Suzaku. The tea was finally starting to do it's job and he was feeling a bit more alert. Now it was going to be really tough to fall asleep and he didn't really want to have to revisit today's events. Shion lamented on the fact that he never really slept well when he was away from home. The first couple nights in his and Nezumi's home was awful. It took a night sleeping next to Nezumi for him to really be comfortable there.

Suzaku's voice broke his reveries. He had been talking the whole time they were walking about this house and the Kururugi shrine, and Shion really wasn't conscious enough to listen. "Sorry guys, but there are only two guest rooms. We have other rooms, but our bedroom and these two are the only ones that have beds. We never really expected for there to be guests here, much less three of them. For the same reason, the guests rooms are a bit dusty. Again, sorry for the inconvenience."

This definitely woke Shion up. "Wait, "our room"? You mean you and Lelouch are um...?"

Suzaku gave his usual grin, "Lovers? Yep. In fact, it's nearing our anniversary. Well, anniversary of me confessing to him. We were friends ever since we were little kids and even back then I had a crush on him. It got turbulent at times, but it all ended up working out in the end. We can't get married like we would in No. 6, and even then I'd probably have to drag Lelouch there by his heels." he stopped in his fond criticism to gauge their reaction. "By any chance are you guys-?"

He stopped right there when he saw Shion go bright red and Nezumi chuckle a bit. Suzaku laughed for a second and pointed them to a door. "Okay, okay! In any case, there isn't enough room for all three of you guys, and I'm sure that C.C. would want her own room. There's your room. Feel free to call if you need anything. Our room is right by the kitchen. Goodnight!"

Shion fought to get the color of his face back to normal. Nezumi opened the door for him. "Let me hold the door for his majesty."

Shion huffed but went in anyway. The room was a bit dusty, but it was no worse than their room back home. The dust made it feel a bit more like home actually. It was a simple queen size bed (that looked awfully out of place in the midst of all the Japanese decor), a bedside table, and a bookshelf stocked with books about chess and politics. He was safe in betting that it was Lelouch's.

Thy quickly settled into their temporary arrangements and tried to fall asleep, but sleep eluded the both of them. The silence grew a bit uncomfortable, so Shion was quick to break it. "Today sure was crazy! I get some odd supernatural power, we learn that the not-so-deserted North District, and we meet an exiled emperor and his knight! History was never my strong subject, but still! If you know about him he must've been pretty important."

"If you were good in history, you wouldn't be so thrilled to be meeting him. He was a monster. He only came into power by exploiting his geass to make everyone fall under his spell. Suzaku was his loyal knight who crushed anyone who got in his way and as a result it got Suzaku "killed" during battle. I guess that was just a trick too to get out of his duties as Zero, if he even was Zero in the first place. I don't even know anymore."

"Wait, Zero? I heard them talking about him, but I don't remember ever hearing about him in class. Who is he?"

Nezumi scoffed and turned over in bed, "Makes sense that No. 6 doesn't want it's citizens to know about the most famous terrorist in history. He started an all-out war against Brittania for the liberation of Japan. He was a symbol for revolution around the world, but committed many heinous crimes. If it was Lelouch, then he killed his brother Clovis, sister Euphemia, and countless others as Zero. Zero is now known as a hero for killing Lelouch when he rose to power. I guess I was Suzaku who did that."

"He was a terrorist! You mean Lelouch is a terrorist? Or is Suzaku...? Wait, which one was Zero?"

"That's what I want to know. In the history books, it says that Lelouch never was Zero, and the one who killed Lelouch was Zero the whole time, but from what I heard them say that's not true. Anyway, don't get the wrong idea about Zero, he helped pick up what was left of the world when Lelouch died and created a brief period of world peace. It was only his disappearance that turned the world into what it is today. It turns out Zero was Suzaku at that time, and he disappeared to meet Lelouch again."

Shion thought about that as he stared at the ceiling. He could hardly believe the calm, seemingly tame Lelouch used to be an emperor and leader of a terrorist organization. And Suzaku. He seemed so cheerful and honest. Him being a killing machine seemed so impossible to even think about. Then again, with how he reacted so violently to calling Lelouch a Demon Emperor, you could tell that he had some demons.

Shion shook his head. No matter what their past was, they still took them in so kindly. They also seemed quite guilty for all they caused, especially Suzaku, and even though he had just met them, he wouldn't want the would-be-emperor and his curly haired companion to feel that kind of guilt.

In fact, thinking about all of the days events made him feel awfully guilty himself. Their best shot at rescuing Safu was out the window, and with no other plans in sight except eventually getting back to West District, there wasn't any more attempts on the horizon. Plus, there was Inukashi and Rikiga. They were probably pissed at them now for "ditching them" at the Correctional Facility, not to mention how Shion managed to dump a baby on them before getting caught. He didn't even want to start thinking about the possibility of them not being able to get out. The caffeine on an empty stomach was already making him feel a bit sick.

"Are you going to get to bed or is the ceiling that interesting?"

"I'm trying to ge-" Shion turned over to avert his eyes from the ceiling, but he instead ended up face to face with Nezumi's smirking face. His heart stopped and then started again at a breakneck speed. He was sure his face was as red as a tomato.

Nezumi gave another dazzling smile. "Are you alright, your majesty?" His voice was dripping with sarcasm and faux-concern. He ran his thumb across the scar on his face before he tangled his hand in Shion's mess of white hair. It sure didn't help Shion's blush. His face was mere inches away and he could feel his warm breath on his face. Shion's thoughts had become an incomprehensible jumble when he was fully aware of the fact that Nezumi slept shirtless.

His mouth had gone dry but he managed to squeak out a quiet, "N-N-Nezumi?"

It finally occurred to Nezumi that this had gone a bit farther than just teasing "his majesty" and he pulled his hand away. He was already involved enough with him, he didn't need to be tied down to the brat in any more ways than he already is- if that was still possible at this point. His mind wandered back to Suzaku and Lelouch for a second. As much as he hated to think of Lelouch in any favorable way, he did think that it was pretty admirable to give up a chance to rule again for a chance to live a calm life in North District with Suzaku...his lover. Nezumi shook his head. No, being tied down that way sounds miserable, to have your life formed around another person's will.

...Though he seemed just fine with it. _Maybe devoting yourself to one person like that wouldn't be so bad. And knowing that you have someone who would do the same for you didn't sound terrible really._ Nezumi chanced a look at Shion. While he was thinking about all that, Shion managed to nod off, cuddled to his side. As he stared at Shion's face he seriously considered everything he thought about just then.

_But wait! Suzaku and Lelouch (by some miracle) are in love with each other. With him and Shion...well. We've both risked our lives for each other, he is "drawn to me", and we both are scared of losing each other more than anything else. Where exactly does that leave us?_ He cast another look Shion's way. Shion was fast asleep. His white hair haloed above his head his lips were parted slightly. He was still holding fast to Nezumi's arm like a teddy bear, but he shifted his grip for a moment and mumbled something in his sleep. He said it a second time, and this time Nezumi heard it loud and clear.

"Nezumi."

Nezumi's eyes went wide. He tensed for a moment and slowly reclaimed his arms from Shion's grip. He started cussing himself out in his head._ Damn it!_ He can even get my heart racing in his sleep. _Whatever, I'll try to get some sleep and- what is he doing now_. Shion, unconsciously seeking out warmth, had wrapped his arms around Nezumi's torso.

Nezumi sighed. _I give up_. He thought in frustration. Nevertheless, he fell asleep with a smile on his face.

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><p>AN: Ahh, I like writing NezuShi~...

But I have a question for all of you. Should I make this fic M rated? I was debating with myself all chapter on where to say "Okay that's enough." (cause I knew they were going to end up in bed, but I wasn't sure how far would be _too_ far). If not, I have a couple plot bunnies for lemon one-shots lined up in a pen. ^w^

Speaking of bunnies, have a happy Easter!


	9. Chapter 9: In the Demon's Garden

A/N: So this took so long guys! I was completely bogged down with homework, and 4/13 didn't help any (for those in the Homestuck fandom who know what I'm talking about...). This chapter used to be HUGE but instead I split it up into three chapters so it wasn't too bulky. (Plus, I type almost all of this on my iPod's Evernote app, and having a file that big makes it crash cause its only a gen1 iTouch. OTL)

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><p>Nezumi was the first to wake up of the two of them. Honestly, by now Shion should've known better than to sleep right next to him; he was the worst kind of bed hog. It was a miracle that Nezumi hadn't kicked him off the bed, but he was dangerously close to falling off and didn't have a blanket to his name. Nezumi threw him one of the blankets and got out of bed. Although Shion was still sleeping, he was sure that the others were probably out and about or having breakfast.<p>

He figured that Shion would still be sleeping for awhile, so he got dressed and headed into the hallway and, sure enough, the smell of breakfast floated through the air along with the sounds of hushed conversation. This peaked his interest and he walked silently towards the kitchen and stopped right outside the doorway to listen in.

"-but you'll have to make due without pizza for a quite a while longer. The West District isn't exactly known for their cuisine." It was Lelouch.

"I deserve at least one slice for waiting so long." C.C. too.

"Why did you wait then? It seems pretty obvious that you could've escaped at any time. Why leave then?"

"For one thing, I needed a proper distraction. In case you weren't aware, getting shot hurts immortals too even if they don't die. Also, with that many guards I figured that they must've done something to really upset the city, and it would make sense if they knew their way around. Their escape would help me in the end, even more so with my geass contract with Shion."

"I've known that kid for less than two hours, and I know for a fact that he would never take your code. Like that puffball could actually kill someone he knew." There was a small pause and Lelouch spoke again. "Unless you plan on lying to him."

"I'll tell him that it'll get rid of his geass. It still counts as the truth. Lelouch, this may be my only shot at ending my this curse I call life. It's about time I-"

"Hand the curse of immortality to someone else? C.C., you really must've become desperate. Even if the snow may have forgotten what color it was, that doesn't mean that it has to dye itself with the blood of others."

C.C.'s voice turned soft, "Lelouch, it's time for the snow to melt and join all the other raindrops."

"But you can't end it with such a dirty trick! If you do, you'll die just as you were called back then: a WITCH!" Lelouch stormed out of the house. Nezumi went back into his and Shion's room.

He flopped down on the bed and tried to take in all he heard. He knew that he couldn't trust C.C. from the start, and it turns out he was right in thinking that. She had a trick up her sleeve the whole time: to get Shion to a point where he didn't want his geass anymore and then give him her curse of immortality. He had no idea how this would happen or what they were saying about the snow, but he needed to know. Unfortunately, this wasn't something he could just ask C.C. about and he doubted Suzaku knew very much about it, so his only choice was to talk to Lelouch. He wasn't looking forward to this.

He shrugged on his jacket but left his scarf where it was, and he headed for the second time that day. He avoided the kitchen door and idly walked down one of the stone paths that surrounded the house. When he made his way into the backyard, he had to stare for a second. The expansive green that engulfed the entire region faded here into a rosy pink and stone gray. Although he had lived among trees for his early childhood, he had never seen trees like these, only heard of them. Sakura trees. It occurred to him that with the devastated landscape, they might be one of the few remaining. They weren't blooming just yet, but their pure white trunks and plump buds promised Spring was on it's way.

In awe, he almost forgot what he came out here for when he spotted Lelouch walking down one of the trails. He started down the same path at a brisk pace. He found that each of the paths led to another small structure on the property. Other paths led to small gardens or even other buildings, but this particular path led to a white gazebo. It was obviously new because of it's obviously European design. Lelouch obviously reached the gazebo first and he simply leaned on the handrail and looked out at something in the distance.

Nezumi didn't even bother being quiet and also stepped into the gazebo. Lelouch didn't acknowledge Nezumi or even glance away from his view. Nezumi caught what he was looking at. From the slightly raised platform of the gazebo, you had a perfect view of the wall of No. 6.

"I see you didn't bother sneaking around this time. Good, it makes things a lot easier if I don't have to call you out."

"Maybe if you weren't talking about us behind our backs I wouldn't have to sneak around." Nezumi bit back.

Lelouch kept staring out at the wall. "We weren't talking about you. Only Shion. It's kind of interesting that you would talk to someone you hate so much for his sake." His dark purple eyes shifted to Nezumi. "Care to tell why?"

Nezumi's silver eyes glared in return. "He deserves to know the truth."

"So you're here for his sake? How sweet. And I thought chivalry only existed in Suzaku. How wrong I was."

Nezumi took a deep breath to calm himself and keep from throttling Lelouch. "I'm here to repay my debt to him. He saved me again, so I feel obligated to return the favor."

"Honorable, but using that kind if logic, you should be repaying C.C. not Shion. She was the one who gave Shion his geass that saved you. Then again, you would probably rather be his knight in shining armour than hers."

At this point, you could nearly see the violent thoughts Nezumi was having playing out in his burning silver eyes. Lelouch genuinely smiled for a moment, "Don't worry. I'll stop teasing you now. You kind of remind me of myself around that age: passionate for my cause and for change, but completely in denial of my feelings."

Nezumi looked unimpressed. "Where exactly was that part about you deciding to stop teasing me?"

"Right, right. I'll tell you anything you want to know," he waved his hand in front of his eyes and opened them to reveal the geass symbol covering both his eyes. "about geass."

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><p>AN: Don't worry, I won't subject you to any more exposition. I just wanted Nezumi to be up to speed on this. Plus I love writing scenery descriptions. So much, and I just had the perfect image of what this place looked like. Off to the local park to look at pretty trees! -fancy Lelouch cape flip away-


	10. Chapter 10: The Knight's True Heart

A/N: Crap and a half. I wanted to have the next chapter ready before ACTs, but holy shit, it fought be every step of the way. I rewrote it _FOUR TIMES. _Ugh. I don't know how the writers of Code Geass can write two full seasons of wham episodes and I can't even write one chapter OTL

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><p>Back inside the house, the other geass user was just awakening. After last night's restful sleep, he felt reguvinated and revived. He wasn't sure why, but he had slept really well last night, even with Nezumi's usual sleep habits. Nezumi appeared to already be out and about, another thing he had grown used to, and he was almost positive that he was the last one still in bed.<p>

After changing and washing his face in the bathroom he managed to find, he made his way to the kitchen, assuming everyone was having breakfast. He was shocked to find that the kitchen was completely deserted. With a glance at the clock, he realized that he had slept through breakfast though now he had more important things to worry about. Where had everybody gone?

He decided to head out into the backyard to look for everyone, but he ended up simply sitting on the back porch waiting for everyone to show up and admiring the beautiful trees and gardens. He soon got bored of sitting around and started wandering down one of the paths. He decided to stick to the main path that led to a smaller looking building. Maybe they had gone in there.

As he walked further down the path, he started to hear the sounds of a fight coming from inside the building. Worried for whoever was inside there, he rushed onto the small porch of the building, but hesitated right before opening the door. He opened the door as quietly as he could and peeked in.

He let out a sigh of relief at what he saw. Inside, he saw Suzaku slashing at a battered dummy with a sharp sword. "Oh, hey Suzaku!"

He tensed into a defensive position before recognizing Shion and lowering his sword. "Hey Shion. What brings you out here."

"I couldn't find anyone, so I went for a walk in the backyard. I heard someone fighting in here and I got a little curious. What're you doing?"

"Kendo. I've trained in it ever since I was a kid. Back then I could only use wooden swords, but now I have a set of real swords that I can use if we're ever attacked. Since No. 6 was a bit reluctant to give us weapons, I had to go all the way to West District to get them. Not too cheap, but definitely worth it." He could almost see Shion's excitement at seeing a real sword. "Do you want to hold it?" Shion nodded vigorously. Naturally, weapons such as these weren't allowed in No. 6 and very few people in West District could afford to have more than just a knife, so this was Shion's first time seeing one in real life.

"Wow~! I can't believe I'm seeing one in real life! I've only seen pictures in museums or at school." Suzaku grinned at the naive boy's reaction to his most basic katana. "Well, within the Brittanian Empire, nearly anyone with status had their very own sword on them for special events. Even princesses got to use them for knighting ceremonies. Eventually, I got my own, but I couldn't take it with me here. Though the royal ones are a lot fancier, these are just fine for my purposes."

Shion reluctantly handed the sword back. "Oh. I guess I got a bit distracted from what I came out here to do. Do you have any idea where the others are?"

"Yeah, Lelouch checked in really quick and told me he'd be over in the gazebo if I needed him. As for C.C. and Nezumi, I have no idea. I could help you find them if you'd want."

"That sounds grea- whoa. What it /that?" Shion spotted another sword above the door he came in.

It had a golden handle and tip and coming from the sides of the handle was a set of wings. The beginning of the blade was an odd magenta with green stones decorating the side. It looked just like the royal swords that Suzaku had described, but it also looked deadly enough to kill someone in an instant. There was absolutely no way it was from West District or even the museums of No. 6.

Suzaku kind of wished he hadn't let Shion in now. This wasn't a story he enjoyed telling at all. Shion whirled around to face Suzaku again, "Where did you get that!" Suzaku's face had darkened again, but he simply said, "That's a very special sword that I swore I would never ever use ever again." His face looked down tiredly but fondly at Shion. "I really don't want to talk about it now, okay?"

Shion nodded and followed Suzaku out, but his eyes never left the jewel encrusted blade.


End file.
